


New Growth from Old Seed

by Draycevixen



Category: The Professionals
Genre: M/M, The Weekly Obbo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-12
Updated: 2011-04-12
Packaged: 2017-10-17 23:32:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/182534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draycevixen/pseuds/Draycevixen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A new life for Doyle.</p><p>Written for The Weekly Obbo: Strain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Growth from Old Seed

.

 

Ray moved between the gardening benches, pinching the side buds off some small seedlings, his limp putting extra strain on every movement and slowing him down. He wiped his hands off on his t-shirt while considering what to do next, pleased with the new life burgeoning around him.

“Hello, Ray.”

Doyle turned to see Bodie standing at the end of the row, his dark hair gleaming in the sunlight streaming through the greenhouse roof. Bodie with his usual sartorial elegance should have looked incongruous amongst the plants and peat moss but he looked perfectly at home, arms crossed, leaning casually against a bench full of begonias.

Anybody else would have been fooled by appearances but not Ray. He could feel the tension radiating off the black clad figure.

“You’ve got mud on your face.”

Doyle opened his mouth, ready to let Bodie have it, when he realized that Bodie probably meant it literally and instead swiped at his cheeks.

“You’re just making it worse.”

Pulling a hanky from his pocket Bodie stepped closer, his hand moving like he was going to catch hold of Doyle’s face, but Ray flinched away, taking the hanky, fingers tingling from where they brushed against Bodie’s. After cleaning his face, he tried to hand it back.

“Keep it... Do you want to talk about it here?”

Ray didn’t want to talk about it at all. He’d cherished a foolish hope that Bodie wouldn’t come looking for him.

“I’ve got an office of sorts in back. C’mon, I’ll make us some tea.”

Doyle’s desk, a couple of filing cabinets and some bookshelves overflowing with gardening manuals and seed catalogues were behind a rough partition. He filled the kettle from an old stone sink in the corner and put it on to boil.

 

Settled in to deck chairs, drinking tea from chipped mugs, it seemed almost like old times. _Before Bodie died._

“What are you doing here, Ray?”

“We mainly supply florists, but we’re trying to raise some new strains too. It’s fascinating work—”

“Not what I meant and you know it.”

Doyle drank his tea.

“Right then. Here’s what I know. We had a run in with the Morrisseys, you got shot in the leg and I got seconded to MI5 for a month. I come back, expecting to find my partner fully recovered and ready to work and instead Cowley tells me you resigned. You didn’t even hang about to tell me yourself.”

“I’m sorry, Bodie.”

“Well that’s just bloody marvellous then, as long as you’re sorry.” Bodie stared in to his mug. “At first I thought that your leg was so bad you wouldn’t make it past Macklin and your pride couldn’t accept being in B squad.”

“They expect me to make a full recovery.”

“They told me. So why Ray?”

 _Because you died._ “One of my Dad’s old army mates owned this place. I’d visited him a few times, I’ve always like growing things, and we got to be friends. He didn’t have kids and when he died six months ago he left it to me. I thought I was going to sell the place.” _Then you died._ “Then this happened” Doyle rubbed his injured leg “and I thought I’d get out while I was still healthy.” _You died and I realized that I loved you and I had to make a new life for myself._

“So where does that leave me?”

“You’ll be fine, you’re the Cow’s favourite calf, he’ll give you any partner you want.”

“He can’t do that. You’ve resigned.”

“Don’t be daft. How about Murphy? You work well together.”

“No, I already told Cowley I’d resign too.”

“You did?”

“He tried to talk me out of it but when he realized he couldn’t he offered me the chance to work with Macklin with the plan that I’ll take over from him when he retires next year.”

“You’ll be good at that.” Doyle toasted with his mug “Here’s good luck to the new recruits, they’re going to bloody need it.”

Bodie put his mug down and leaned all the way forward in the deck chair, its wooden frame creaking.

“I’m still waiting to hear the real reason you resigned.”

 _Because I couldn’t risk seeing you die again._ “The Morrissey job.”

“What about it?”

“Cal Morrissey held that gun to your head and I couldn’t get there in time, couldn’t stop him from pulling the trigger.” _I still wake up every night in a cold sweat from reliving that moment_. “I saw him pull the trigger and just like _that_ you were dead, gone, your brains splattered across the wall. If his gun hadn’t jammed...” Doyle swallowed heavily, feeling sick.

”That’s it then, you’ve lost your nerve.”

Doyle was tired, tired of thinking about Bodie being dead, tired of thinking about falling in love for the first and last time with someone he could never have a life with. “Yeah, that’s it.”

“I don’t believe it.” Bodie stood up. “Let’s go and get a pint and see if you can talk me in to it.”

Doyle thought about the years ahead, no longer having the job in common, of their settling in to a routine of watching the match together, getting a few pints, perhaps being the best man at Bodie’s wedding... No, it was better to end it cleanly now. He might lose his teeth in the process but at least he’d get to touch Bodie once.

“So you want the truth? It made me realize that I...”

Doyle stepped quickly forward and kissed him. Bodie kissed back and kept on kissing him, wrapping his arms around Ray to pull him closer, before stepping back.

“C’mon.” Bodie started for the door.

“Where are we going?”

“I’ve waited years... never thought you might return... Sod it, I’m not good with words so we’re going home where I can _show_ you how I feel, somewhere with more to offer than a concrete floor and a deck chair. It’s time to make a new life. _Together._ ”

 

.


End file.
